Torpedo accusation raises Korean security stakes

Reporting from Seoul

Following weeks of investigation, leaked evidence and diplomatic huddles, South Korea on Thursday publicly accused North Korea of firing a torpedo that sank a naval patrol ship and killed 46 crewmen in March, significantly raising the security stakes on an already tense Korean Peninsula.

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Following weeks of investigation, leaked evidence and diplomatic huddles, South Korea on Thursday publicly accused North Korea of firing a torpedo that sank a naval patrol ship and killed 46 crewmen in March, significantly raising the security stakes on an already tense Korean Peninsula.
The international community responded with concern and condemnation for Kim Jong Il's isolationist regime. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the case "deeply troubling," and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd insisted that the North's "hostile and unprovoked act" should be met with swift and immediate retaliation.
Yet troublesome questions remain: What response can the South and its allies, including the U.S., give to warn North Korea against further provocations without inciting continued violence? Denying culpability, Pyongyang has already rattled its sabers, warning that any retaliation would lead to "all-out war."
The U.S Thursday stood behind South Korea, with the White House issuing a statement that said the "act of aggression is one more instance of North Korea's unacceptable behavior and defiance of international law."
Citing what it called overwhelming evidence, a joint civilian-military multinational team determined that fragments and markings from a torpedo found amid the wreckage of the downed naval vessel matched that of a North Korean-made weapon already in the South's possession.
The report concluded that "there is no other plausible explanation" than the North's involvement.
North Korea on Thursday called the probe's findings a "fabrication" and said it would send its own inspection team to the South to consider the evidence, according to a statement released through the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency. It wasn't clear whether the South would allow such a trip.
Analysts predict that the cold war between North and South is about to get a lot colder.
"While a military war is less likely, I think an all-out economic war is certain," said Ahn Yin-hay, an international studies professor at Korea University in Seoul. "Relations between North and South will reach a stalemate. The U.S. may even put North Korea on its terrorist list again. But all this means that relations between the U.S. and South Korea with be strengthened."